A Spa Full of Murder by Kay Hadashi

Author:Kay Hadashi [Hadashi, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Riding along, Melanie sat quietly as Judge Griswald made notes on his legal pad. Having the south Maui shoreline memorized, she checked her phone for messages. Seeing one from Georgie, she listened.

“I got hit again. They slammed that new tip can to pieces to get the cash and took off. I am so f…”

Melanie put her phone away, wondering how much she cared about Detective Nakatani’s niece right then. By the time she had Griswald settled in a resort suite near her home, Thérèse and Hana were getting home from preschool. Deciding her day wasn’t yet done fighting crime and corruption, she changed into simple picnic clothes and went to the shed while Chance napped and Thérèse had a snack. Digging through boxes, she found what she needed. Putting her grandfather’s old electric circular saw in the back of her pickup with an extension cord and a few tools, she dug further for some sort of metal can that could be used as a hidden tip jar.

“Wait.”

Going back into the house, she rummaged through a closet.

“Way too much crap in this house.”

Finally, she found an old cash box with a narrow opening in the top, something she used occasionally when she had lemonade stands as a kid. Its lock was simple, but it would be good enough for Georgie’s use at the bistro coffee stand. Getting a few screws, a drill, and a screwdriver, she got the kids in the pickup and left for her Surf ‘n’ Turf sporting goods store.

“What’s all that for?” Georgie asked, watching Melanie clear a space on the counter next to the cash register.

“One last attempt at a secure tip jar. I’m mounting this cash box beneath the counter, and then I’ll cut a slot through the counter that the customers can drop their tips into. At the end of the day, all you have to do is unlock the box and remove the tips. What happened this time?” Melanie asked, drilling holes for mounting screws.

“Well, I wasn’t busy, so I stepped away for a second.”

“How long is a second in your world, Georgie?”

“Maybe a minute or two.”

“And you were doing what, where?”

“I was just sort of looking at the new boards that came in this morning.”

“You were over in the shop instead of in the bistro?”

“It’s not that far away, and I didn’t have any customers.”

“It was far enough away for someone to rip you off, which means they could’ve ripped off anything from the bistro, including raiding the till,” Melanie said. She tried the lock to make sure it worked. Then she plugged in the power saw. Revving it up, she cut a six-inch slot through the countertop, and then made a parallel slot next to it. Setting aside the saw, she took her hammer and slammed the slender piece of counter between the slots.

“Dude, like, you okay?” Georgie asked, standing a couple of steps back.

“I’m fine.”

With a second whack of her hammer, Melanie broke through the counter.

“How’d Trinh’s trial thing go today? Did she go home?”

Melanie gave her rough hole one more whack with the hammer.

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